Hockey Canada announced today that Philadelphia Flyers Head Coach Rick Tocchet has been named assistant coach of Team Canada for the 2026 Olympic Games. Tocchet is one of four assistant coaches alongside Bruce Cassidy (Vegas Golden Knights), Peter DeBoer, and Misha Donskov. The tournament is set to take place from Feb. 6-22 in Italy.
The Olympics in February will mark the second time Tocchet has represented Hockey Canada as a coach while he also represented Canada as a player on three occasions.
Tocchet, 61 (4/9/1964), served as an assistant coach for Team Canada at the Four Nations Face-Off in 2025 where he helped lead the team to win the tournament. As a player, he helped Canada win the Canada Cup Tournament in 1988 & 1992 and appeared in 10 games at the World Cup in 1990.
The veteran coach has a career record of 286-265-87 in 638 regular season NHL games behind the bench as head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning (2008-10), Arizona Coyotes (2017-2021), and Canucks (2022-25). Additionally, Tocchet has led his team to the Stanley Cup Playoffs twice (2019-20 & 2023-24) and has a record of 11-11 in 22 postseason games.
In 2024 the Scarborough, ON native was awarded the NHL’s Jack Adams Award as Coach of the Year. That season Tocchet led the Canucks to a Pacific Division title with a 50-win, 109-point season and 50-23-9 record. Their 109 points were the third-most in the Western Conference, sixth-most in the league and the third-highest single-season point total in franchise history.
Prior to becoming a coach, Tocchet played parts of 18 seasons and over 1,100 games as a forward in the NHL with nearly 11 of those seasons with Philadelphia over two separate stints (1984-92 & 1999-02). Overall, he skated in 1,144 NHL regular-season games and registered 440 goals, 512 assists, and 952 points for the Flyers (1984-92 & 1999-02), Pittsburgh Penguins (1991-92 to 1993-94), Los Angeles Kings (1994-95 to 1995-96), Boston Bruins (1995-96 to 1996-97), Washington Capitals (1996-97) and Phoenix Coyotes (1997-98 to 1999-2000).
